EEOC sues BMO Harris over alleged disability act violations

(Crain's) — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a class-action lawsuit against BMO Harris Bank, alleging it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it fired four employees who had exhausted their medical leave but could have returned to work weeks later with a little more flexibility.

In its complaint, the EEOC said it filed suit against BMO Harris after concluding a one-year negotiating period that began in August 2011 and ended without resolution. The lawsuit was filed Sept. 28 in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

The complaint alleges that BMO Harris “has maintained an inflexible medical leave policy which does not provide for reasonable accommodation of qualified individuals with disabilities and which instead provides for termination of their employment.”

The lawsuit cites four bank employees who were incapacitated with different maladies in 2006, 2007 and 2009, exhausted their medical leave time but then were able to return their jobs within weeks afterward only to find they'd been let go.

The EEOC asks for an injunction halting the discriminatory practices and compensation for the four employees, as well as other qualified employees who lost their jobs for similar reasons.

In an email, a bank spokesman wrote, “We are working closely and cooperatively with the EEOC to research and resolve this matter.” He declined to comment further.

The four ex-workers whose rights the EEOC said BMO Harris violated were:

• Regina Sanders, a senior administrative assistant who took medical leave to treat colon cancer in May 2006 and then tried to return to work in February 2007. BMO Harris filled her position in the meantime and failed to consider her for other open positions “for which she was qualified,” the complaint said.

• Patty Araceli Hurtado, a customer service representative, took medical leave in April 2006 for treatment of Bell's palsy, anxiety disorder and depression. She told the bank she could return on Nov. 22, 2006, but one week before her scheduled return, she was replaced, according to the complaint.

• Cynthia Pickens, a personal banker, took medical leave in May 2007 for treatment of post traumatic stress disorder and resulting panic attacks. She was cleared to return to work six weeks after her medical leave expired in August, but the bank had filled her job, according to the complaint.

• Erika Rodriguez, a personal banker, began taking intermittent leave in June 2009 due to asthma attacks. After exhausting her job-protected medical leave in February 2010, she had to take personal days to cope with her asthma. The bank fired her “for taking too many personal leave days to recover from asthma attacks,” according to the complaint.